Rugby: Dragons run out of steam

MUNSTER 10

N-G DRAGONS 8

A BATTLING display by the Dragons was not enough to prevent them falling to their third defeat by Munster in seven weeks.

Victory at Musgrave Park against high-flying Munster would have given their Celtic League season real impact after back-to-back wins over Connacht and the Ospreys.

But the Irish side, even with just four of their Heineken Cup XV, still held too much firepower and regained their place at the top of the table.

Skipper Anthony Foley, left out of Ireland's Six Nations squad in midweek, produced a storming display to send a reminder to national coach Eddie O'Sullivan.

The 32-year-old waited just three minutes for his first Celtic League try of the season.

Dragons' good work in turning over the first Munster scrum and lineout was wasted when they lost their own scrum on the 22 for Mossie Lawlor and Gary Connolly to drive on before sending Foley in close to the posts.

Lawlor added the conversion but Munster notions of pulling away were quickly dispelled as Dragons put several good passages of play together and were rewarded after 10 minutes when loose-head Adam Black crossed in the left corner with the home defence stretched.

Neither side were able to dominate for the remainder of the half with both guilty of basic errors.

Lawlor knocked-on after 24 minutes when a try seemed certain after Foley made a great break from deep inside his own half.

But the fly-half redeemed himself with a penalty from 40 metres four minutes later after a high tackle on the busy Anthony Horgan.

Mick O'Driscoll, superb in the loose, rampaged from halfway to within inches of the line on the right touchline after pinching a lineout, while Foley failed to offload to John O'Connor after the Dragons' defence was again cracked open.

Dragons, constantly forced to kill the ball to keep Munster at bay, were eventually penalised when lock Peter Sidoli was sin- binned just before half-time.

But the Dragons came closest to scoring before the break when Munster full-back Shaun Payne needed to be alert to beat Craig Warlow to the touchdown after Dragons fly-half chased his own grubber kick.

The visitors dominated after the restart and camped inside the Munster half for almost the entire third quarter.

But they could not breach a stubborn defence and Jason Forster was denied as Stephen Keogh somehow managed to get underneath to prevent Dragons' skipper from touching down.

Dragons reduced the deficit to two points after 74 minutes when Warlow landed a penalty in front of the posts.

That set up a thrilling finish but Munster hit back and some strong running by Horgan and good kicking from Lawlor took them deep into Dragons territory.

The visitors tried desperately to run the ball back but Munster held out.

MUNSTER Tries: Foley. Cons: Lawlor. Pens: Lawlor.

DRAGONS Tries: Black. Pens: Warlow.

Copyright 2006 MGN LTD
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.